The Anambra State alleged COVID-19 Index case victim, Chief Marcel Eze,
yesterday described all the stories being peddled about him testing
positive to Coronavirus as all false and fabrications to tarnish his
image.

Speaking with Vanguard yesterday in a telephone interview,
Chief Eze, who said he deals on Pharmaceuticals, challenged the Anambra
State government, particularly the state Commissioner for Health to
show him and the world the alleged lab test result that confirmed him
positive.

The angry Chief Eze said that he has been abandoned
without any care, food or any medical attention since Friday he was
taken to General Hospital Onitsha after a call from the State
Commissioner for Health.

Chief Eze also called on Governor Willie
Obiano to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding his
alleged current travail in General Hospital Onitsha, just as he
challenged the governor to visit the hospital to hear his story,
claiming that the state is being deceived over the claim that he tested
positive to Coronavirus.

Chief Ezeh also said that he has not
visited Lagos State since January, contrary to the claim in some
quarters that he visited Lagos where he allegedly contacted the virus,
saying that “the last time I visited Lagos State was in December and I
have been in Anambra State since January.”

According to Eze, “I
was admitted for a heart problem at Prof. Nwilo Heart Foundation, St
Joseph Hospital Adazi Nnukwu, and was discharged after being confirmed
okay by the doctors.

“While I was in the hospital, three people
came and introduced themselves that they are from government and are
conducting test on Coronavirus that they will take my sample like others
in the hospital, and I said no problem.

“They brought something
like cotton bud but very long with both ends having cottons, and
inserted it into my mouth and nose and later collected it and left. That
was before I was discharged from St Joseph Hospital Adazi Nnukwu.

“For
three days before I left the hospital, I did not see them again. I was
discharged on Tuesday and I went to one of my doctor friends in Awka who
advised me to take bed rest in his hospital to avoid disturbance
because of the type of person I am and I agreed.

“While I was
there, on Wednesday by 11pm, a call came into my phone and on picking
the call, a man identified himself as the Commissioner for Health in
Anambra State, and he told me they have been looking for me and I asked
him for what, and he did not say any reasonable thing to me and because
it was late, I told him to come to the hospital the next day.

“On
Thursday, the Commissioner came with some of his officials to the
hospital and told me that the test conducted on me was positive for
Coronavirus and I told him that St Joseph Hospital from where I was
discharged on Tuesday did not take any sample from me. They brought a
stretcher and asked me to enter. That was the way I found myself in
General Hospital Onitsha where they currently dumped me without food,
water or any medical care since Friday they brought me from Awka to
Onitsha, on this their fraudulent claim of me testing positive to
Coronavirus.

Anambra govt reacts

Reacting yesterday
to the allegation of the coronavirus index case, Anambra State
government said the man does not possess a good frame of mind to
discuss his condition.

The commissioner for information and
public enlightenment, Mr. Don Adinuba told Vanguard that the man’s
problem was that his people were tormenting him psychologically and
emotionally in the social media, advising him to stop granting media
interviews that would not help him in any way.

Adinuba said: “I
wonder why he is saying that he was dumped. I will advise him to stop
granting interviews since he doesn’t have the state of mind to speak on
this matter.

” I know that he is dispirited. We understand his
situation because for someone to be isolated in a very large compound
with only two family members, that person will not feel good.

“What he needs is peace of mind especially when his people are tormenting him psychologically and emotionally.”

According
to the commissioner, the index case is not in a position to know if he
is positive for coronavirus or not. He added that it was NCDC that
brought the result of his test.

“We heard the result just like
other people and it is wrong for him to be blaming anybody in the state
for his situation,” the commissioner said.

Index case poorly handled — Obi

Reacting
to the development, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the PDP in the
last presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi frowned at the manner
Anambrarians handled the index case of COVID-19 in Anambra State, even
when he singled out St. Joseph Hospital, Adazi-Nnukwu for commendation
for their professionalism.

In a statement made available by Obi’s
Media Office, he thanked St. Joseph Hospital for being pro-active,
going by the measures they took in handling the case, but described the
stigmatisation of the index case by the people through videos and
publications in various media platforms and the accompanying
psychological trauma, as against the basic principle of collective fight
against the pandemic.

Expressing confidence in St Joseph
Hospital, Obi said it remained one of the best health facilities in this
part of the country and that its Dr. Joseph Nwilo Heart Centre remained
the best of its kind in Nigeria, manned by the globally-acclaimed
cardiologist, Dr. Joe Nwilo, one of the most patriotic Nigerians who,
though based in the USA, comes in from time to time at his own cost to
perform free heart operations.”